Denis54

How reliable is the C230?

My wife wants a new car. She loves the look of the C230 but she also wants a reliable car. Her Camry has been dead reliable and she wants a car whose reliability is somewhat comparable.

white_w203

honestly, it's not as reliable as a lexus, which is the car i used to have, but i still choose the benz.

mick1

don't know. I'm conducting reliability testing on it right now

actually, it's the C320 that i'm testing.

electromethod

I love my MB but I wouldn't trust it without my extended warranty. Toyota reliability is great when you buy a good vehicle from them, ie not a sienna or other vehicles ridden with sludge issues. I am on my 3rd toyota truck. First one had over 600K miles. 2nd had over 400K miles (she's still sitting in my driveway). My new tacoma has 15K already. My parents bought their last MB over 15 years ago and have been driving toyota's into the ground since. They swear they won't even go with any other car. Guess it all comes down to whether or not reliability is a crucial element for you... perhaps try Searching the forum for similar threads that would be helpful.
Best of luck

Abspara

I jumped ship from Toyota over to MB. That said, I definately did not choose MB for its reliability, as i did my homework before buying. This time around, i am putting more value on comfort and prestige then base reliability.

Now, im not saying that i want a lemon as i expect some degree of stability out of my MB, but I also do expect that this MB will be at the dealership a bit more then say, my previous vehicle, which only visited the dealer for routine, scheduled checkups over the 6 years I owned it.

Zillarpillow23

I bought mine in early October. Used with 13k miles. No floor mats (national back order), no second key (original owner kept it) and when they delivered it from their sister dealership, the tow driver dented my driver's side fender. When I drove it off there was a slight wobble and a blown speaker. No big deal. So I made an appointment ASAP and that's when Wilma hit South Florida. 4 weeks later and after driving a camry they loaned me, I was tired of MB service not returning my calls so I just showed up and low a behold my car's sitting on the lot. I talked to my salesman (personal friend) and he proceeded to tell me that my car has been ready since Friday (it was now Monday).

The dent was fixed along with the delivery of the second key and floor mats but the wobble still continued and now it pulled to the right. Mechanically and electrically my car is superb but the service is awful. This is the only problem I have with MBUSA. I mean, it's a freakin Mercedes!! Where's the respect? Lexus has customer service on lock down. This is one of the main reasons why they have die hard loyalty with their drivers. Beside it's service, I'm proud to be a Mercedes owner and I'm going to be for as long as I can with future models but MBUSA has to get their act together and compete with Lexus's service. I won't hold my breath though.

:v

BIGjohnny

German cars always run into an electrical problem. Japan cars keeps going and going and going. I prefer German

GMW

It also depends in which part of the world you drive your car. In my part the Mercedes can take more of a beating from poor road conditions than the Toyotas. Plus whenever I'm in a friend's Japanese car I usually hear some loud squeeks and moans from the interior trim and the suspension, and see a lot of wear and tear to the interior where all the plastic looks cheap (at least Mercedes is now using expensive plastic! :p )but they don't really notice it. If those sounds were in a Mercedes the owner would be climbing up the walls. In fact, when traveling in fellow Mercedes owner cars, they complain if they hear so much as a squeak from anywhere in the car. I guess owning a Mercedes makes you a lot more fussy but it also comes down to the high expectations a first time buyer of the brand will have.

So electrical faults not withstanding, the ownership is a far better experience.

Everything in life is some sort of tradeoff..from wives...cough cough...to cars! So you get to choose between a car that you don't really love with a passion but is extremely reliable in most cases, the Toyota, or you get a car that you will really love, but might have to go into the garage a few more times than the Toyota. I will go with true love!

Bing

Toyota Volta Hybrid

I'm going to test drive the model and run it hard

revstriker

On a comparison, I think you will find that a Toyota or a Lexus is more reliable than a MB.

With that said though, I wouldn't classify the C230 as an unreliable car. Personally (and this is a personal choice), the benefits of the MB over the Toyota outweigh any reliability concerns. Also, after owning several MBs, I have found that any and all issues that I have had were fixed promptly, and were covered under the factory warranty at no cost to me. As for extended warranties, you have to do some investigation on these. Personally, I am not a fan of extended warranties, but I also don't normally keep my cars past the factory warranty expiration.

So my advice it to not worry so much about the reliability of the MB unless you are located in a remote area where getting service would really be a hassle.